


When Family and Work Collide:  A Troll of a Problem

by Arytra



Series: Section 123 [14]
Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Gen, Look! Character growth, Problem-solving fluff, Sesame Street Family, Trolls are totally non-binary, pretty fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 01:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15207368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arytra/pseuds/Arytra
Summary: Penelope's job sometimes means after hour assistance in sections that aren't hers.  Normally, this is fine as Travis knows the rules.  This time, however, she has two members of her family with her, agents who don't know what they're doing, formal dinner apparel, and there's a troll.  Because of course there is.





	When Family and Work Collide:  A Troll of a Problem

They should have taken the subway. That was the first thought that Penelope considered when she saw the ruckus. They absolutely should have taken the subway. Travis had insisted that they should take Bob and Linda out to dinner as a late birthday present to Bob, making certain to ask a week later as to not accidentally usurp any plans that the couple had already had planned, and Penelope had easily agreed with the idea. It was a nice and fun way to celebrate Bob's birthday after all. She'd also offered to drive which they'd taken her up on. It wasn't like Penelope really needed a car at this point since she lived on Sesame Street anyway and wasn't trying to get to three different locations in a certain amount of time, but she enjoyed the freedom she had to just up and go. In addition, Donovan often borrowed it when needed and it was just handy to have. Well, most of the time it was handy to have. This was one of those rare times where if they had been on the subway, none of this would be an issue making the car extremely unhandy at the moment.

She sighed and pulled over the car, reaching into the glove department and pulling out a bag of skittles and her credentials. She would leave her purse in the car, but she still was wearing a dress and heels so she'd just have to hold onto her badge at the moment. Travis easily reached into the glovebox to grab a couple of workbooks. She looked apologetically in the mirror at Linda and Bob. “I need to look into this,” she said. “Stay in the car. Travis! What are the rules?”

“Stay in the car. Work on math. Do not follow Penelope even if I'm really worried. No, not even for that reason, whatever you're thinking, Travis. Stay!” He answered, not even looking up from his workbook and trusting Bob to translate it.

“Share the skittles with Bob and Linda. I'll be right back,” Penelope said and actively turned around, punctuating with both a look and emphatic signing. “Stay in the car. I have to deal with Susan and Mr. Hooper if you don't so just stay here. I mean. I am not going to be happy if you do not stay in the car.”

She headed out, making her way under the overpass where she'd seen several people run out in a panic somewhat cautiously. If she wasn't able to handle it, then she'd call in backup. As it was, it turned out she was the backup as a group of younger agents were trying to shoot at what looked like a troll, easily nine feet tall. She rolled her eyes. “Didn't they teach you anything in training? Troll skin is thick and bullets don't work.”

“Well, we have to do something!” One of them snapped. “He's attacking people.”

“Alright, alright. Move already,” she grumbled, heading over with her arms folded. “Hey! Sir! What do you think you're doing?”

“Puny human refer to Shatter?” The troll asked.

“Agent Carson is referring to Shatter,” she answered, emphasizing her name and title. Third person grammar. No problem. She just spoke to Elmo this morning and other than a tad bit of a size difference, this should be similar enough. “Now, what does Shatter think Shatter is doing?”

The troll paused in what he, or they considering that Penelope didn't rightly know if Shatter was male or female or other and it was just polite to try not to misgender others. “Shatter want to get payment.”

“And why does Shatter deserve payment?” She asked.

“Because humans use Shatter's underbridge! Should pay Shatter's toll!” They answered. Penelope nodded.

“I think I see what's going on here,” she said gently. “Can Shatter set down that rather large club and come have some good communication with me on the problem?”

“Communication?” Shatter asked, but to Penelope's relief, they put down the club. “What does Agent Carson mean?”

“Well, Shatter has a problem. Shatter wants humans to give Shatter money for coming into Shatter's home. But those humans don't have a home. They're trying to find somewhere to stay for now and don't have money for Shatter's toll,” she answered. Shatter sat on the ground while Penelope found a rock and faced the troll. “And scaring them isn't nice.”

“It troll way!” Shatter disagreed.

“I understand,” she said. “But it's not the human way. So, if you want something and they want something, maybe you can cooperate.”

“Cooperate?” He asked.

“Right,” she said. “Earlier, my friend, a Snuffleupagus named Alice wanted to draw, but she only had paper. And another friend of mine, a monster named Zoe had some crayons, but no paper. The two of them cooperated by using the paper and crayons to make a picture together. That's what cooperation is: working together to get a job done.”

“Agent Carson help Shatter cooperate?” The troll asked. She smiled.

“Of course,” she said. “But calling me Agent Carson is kind of a mouthful, isn't it? Why don't you call me Penelope? Now, why do you want the toll? Does the money make you happy?”

“No. Shatter needs to keep upkeep on magic,” he answered. Penelope nodded.

“And the magic does...” She continued.

“Magic keep bridge up and dragons out,” he answered.

“There are dragons?” A voice asked. Penelope was going to strangle Bob. Linda too because it was probably both of their idea and Linda was just quieter.

“Shatter, would you excuse me for just a moment?” She asked.

“Shatter wait,” the troll assured her. Good. She had the troll's attention which meant she was definitely going to be able to fix this, wring Bob and Linda's necks, and still make it to bed at a decent time.

“Is this in the car?” She demanded, signing as she spoke as she assumed Linda could see her. “Get out here, Linda! If Bob is here, so are you. I gave you a very easy job. Stay in the car. Travis is still in the car. Why aren't you two in the car?”

“We wanted to see what was going on,” Bob answered, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

“What was going on is that you should have stayed in the car,” she answered. “Alright. New rule and you better follow it this time because I'm already in enough trouble because of you two. Stay here. Stay quiet. And if it goes badly, run. Now, I need to go finish my conversation with Shatter.”

She stood back up and headed back to Shatter who looked at her. “Penelope's family?”

“Yes.”

“Penelope babies?”

“My brother and sister. My father is going to be very mad at me for bringing them to work,” she said with a slight smile. Shatter grinned.

“I took Quake to work and rocks fell on Quake. Quake only have small bumps, but Father not happy with Shatter either,” they said and the two nodded in solidarity. “Why Penelope bring with?”

“Well, we were finishing dinner and saw that there was something going on,” she answered. “So, I didn't mean to, but you know how parents are.”

“Shatter know,” the troll answered. She believed them and felt a kinship with Shatter at this point. That said, she should probably get back to the matter at hand.

“Anyway, aren't there different magical currencies that Shatter can pay with?” She asked. “Like, uh, a child's laughter. Isn't that one?”

“Yes,” Shatter agreed. “But children not laugh around Shatter.”

“That's because right now Shatter is a little scary. But what if Shatter was protecting them and giving them a place to stay?” She asked. “What if humans with no home stayed here with Shatter and Shatter and humans cooperated in keeping out dragons and keeping the magic up?”

“Shatter can do that?” The troll asked and then stood more firmly. “Shatter will do that! No more threatening humans!”

“Well, maybe not every human but it might be okay to growl at some of them that hurt Shatter's new family,” she said. Shatter stood up even straighter.

“Shatter not let anyone hurt new family!” The troll promised. Penelope beamed.

“Excellent! I'm pretty sure that some of them heard you say that so just remember to cooperate. Because when Shatter cooperates...”

“Shatter and humans get job of protecting bridge done!” Shatter boomed. She walked over and shook the troll's hand. “Penelope come see later?”

“Of course,” she answered. “Have a good night, Shatter!”

“Good night, Penelope! Good night, Penelope Brother! Good night, Penelope Sister!” The troll said and Penelope watched as both of her somewhat siblings just waved. Penelope fought the urge to grab them both and head back to the car. She looked at the other agents sternly.

“This is Shatter's home and you need to respect that. Shatter is trying, so you need to try. And stop shooting at trolls. You're making us look bad,” she said. “Now, I need to get home. Try to do your job more properly.”

With that, she gave into her desire, grabbing both Bob and Linda and led them back to the car where Travis still doing one of the workbooks. All three of them got into the car and Travis calmly put the book away and folded up the candy wrapper. “I tried to offer them candy, but they left instead.”

“I know,” she answered.

“What was it?”

“A troll.”

“Is it fixed?”

“It's fixed,” she answered. “Though I did have to take time out because apparently 'stay in the car' is an extremely hard direction for some people.”

_“It's not my fault Bob doesn't know how to sneak.”_ Linda argued.

_“None of you do. You're terrible at it. And there was a troll. A troll! What if that would have ended badly?”_ She demanded.

“We just wanted to see this part of your life,” Bob said earnestly.

“I had a rule for you seeing this part of my life: Don't. The end. Did you at least wait to make sure that they weren't trying to bring down the tunnel?” She asked.

“Yes,” both of them answered. It was something at least.

“So there are dragons?” Bob asked.

“Yes.”

“Can we see some?”

“No.”

“But Penelope...”

“Now is not the time to try to get me to let you see dragons, Bob.”

_“Trolls really don't look that different than they do in fairytales. Do you think Shatter would let me interview him?”_ Linda asked.

_“Them. I don't know if Shatter is a boy or a girl or if trolls have multiple genders. If you can convince Susan and Mr. Hooper, I don't care. I do care that I didn't know how dangerous Shatter was! And it is a lot harder to dodge a troll when I'm making sure that you two are safe! In a situation like this, it could have gone very bad, very quick and I'm trained for that. You two are not. If you do this again, you won't have to worry about dealing with Susan after because you'll have to deal with me instead. Understood?”_ She demanded.

_“Yes._ At least now they looked apologetic.

“Good,” she said. “Now, we're going to stop off for some ice cream and then we're going home.”

“We are?” Travis asked.

“We are for you,” she said. “Good siblings get ice cream for listening to their big sister.”

“I'm older than you,” Bob reminded her. She gave him a look that now was not the time to correct her. Travis managed to not lord it over the other two when Penelope handed his a large ice cream cone and drove them back. She parked the car and looked at Travis.

“Be somewhere not here,” she instructed. He took off. She led the other two to Susan. “Linda and Bob walked into my work situation when I told them not to. Thought you might want to know.”

It was rare that she ratted out the others, but honestly. She continued walking after dropping them off with Susan and made her way toward Hooper's which was technically closed though she easily opened the door and turned the light on. She hopped the counter and started to work making herself an egg cream. “We're closed,” Mr. Hooper said sardonically.

“If you're going to scold me, I'm going to enjoy an egg cream while you do so,” she answered.

“You're not supposed to enjoy me scolding you,” he reminded her. “At least clean up after yourself.”

“I was planning on it,” she answered. “Okay, it's ready. Go ahead with the scolding.”

“You couldn't have dropped them off and gone back?” He asked.

“Nope,” she answered. “Time sensitive. I'm not thrilled they came to see what was going on either. Travis always stays in the car since the first time when we messed up communicating with each other. I was clear this time. Other than that, I can't help what they do when I'm trying to work. Luckily, this was an easy fix.”

“No injuries?” He asked. He knew full well she wasn't hurt or he would have been checking her over when she got in.

“Nope,” she answered. “There was no need to commit any sort of violence and we found a solution that worked for both sides.”

“Good,” he answered. “You dropped them off with Susan?”

“First thing I did after buying Travis an ice cream for staying in the car!” She said easily. “Is there a punishment?”

“Not this time,” he answered. “Clean up and go home. And Penelope?”

“Yes?”

“Good work tonight,” he said. “In case they don't tell you later.”

Penelope just smiled.


End file.
